Great day yesterday!

We are so thankful for our day with Mason yesterday. When we walked in they were dressing him in his own clothes and he now has his blankets. We were able to take his temp. change two diapers :), feed him and hold him. (finally) The day before I was only able to hold him for 10 min. We are just thanking God for our special day. We didn't learn any new information medically but that was ok with us. As you can see in pictures, they took his IV's from his head and his special sunglasses off. We're so grateful to his nurse Andrea. She just loves him and took such great care of him. She's also the hairstylist that keeps him looking cool :). Enjoy the adorable pictures. Again thank you for your continuous prayers. We feel them and know they are getting us through each day. I wish I could come across the computer and give each of you a hug and say thank you. Kevin and I just stand in awe at the support we've received. We pray you have a blessed day and that God reveals himself to you today. Love to you all! Wendy

Fun Day with Mason

Mason looking at mommy

The first time mommy held Mason

Mason continues

(Be sure to read the info in the post below, blogger cut me off before I could finish what I was writing )

to look into his eyes and hold his hand. I'm so proud of my little man. He's such a fighter and I know he can pull through this. I'm also so proud of Kevin. What a blessing he is to my life. He has had so much on his shoulders and I couldn't ask for a better husband and daddy. Please pray for him.
As I was laying in bed last night staring at Mason's bassinett floods of verses and songs came back to me that I've learned over the years. There is a song that Mandisa recently came out with called "God speaking" some of the lines say "do you know how He gets ahold of us gets our attention to prove He's enough./ He'll do and choose whatever He wants to to tell us I love you. Through all of this I know how much God loves our family and none of this takes Him by surprise and that He will see us through each situation and obstacle. We are specifically asking you to pray that Mason does not have the Xlink chromosome and that whatever comes our way that we will continue to stand on the Rock. Thank you again for all the prayers and phone calls and texts. The days are coming together as somewhat of a blur so this is the easiest way to respond. Love you All!!!

Mason

Well, as you will be able to see by the pictures yesterday was a very difficult day that we had not prepared for. When we arrived at the hospital Mason was under the light because he was a bit jaundice. We were met by the genetics lady who was informing us about the X chromosome that we had heard about. They have not confirmed that Mason has this and we are praying and believing that God is going to heal him. The chromosome would have come from me however we have not link to this in our family going back generations. To our knowledge noone has ever had it. What it would mean is that Mason would not be able to walk or function intellectually. (forgive me if my spelling is wrong on any of this) After she left two other resident doctors came in to tell us that they were not sure the shunt was successful that was bleeding and because there was fluid on the brain it did not finish developing. They also said that Mason was not out of the woods to survive. This information was given to us all within the first hour. As you can imagine we were devestated and in shock. That was so different than what we had heard the day before. The nerosurgeon came in about an hour later and said that he felt it looked good. Not start thinking the worse. They did give him an IV last night to help his blood flow in his head. We will find out about that when we see him in a little while. We are asking specifically that we pray that he does not have the Xlink chromosome. We are believing and knowing that God can do anything. We are also asking that you pray that whatever God chooses to do that He will continue to give us strength to handle whatever the outcome. This is so different than what we thought life would look like. He is so precious. I wish you all could look in his eyes because what an amazing child of God. I feel like the luckiest girl in the world

Our Precious Baby Boy

First, I want to praise the Lord for all the blessings He has given us. The outpouring of love, prayers and encouragement has been so appreciated. We serve a great God and we are watching Him perform miracles in our precious babies life.
Mason was born Saturday morning at 9:38 a.m via Csection. He was breeched :(. All of our natural child birth classes went out the window but we still learned alot:). They struggled getting him out and commented in surgery that his head was abnormally large. As I was coming out of recovery, the doctor came in and told us that it appeared that he had Hydrocephalus. They would be taking him immediately to Tampa General. I was able to hold him for a few minutes before they took him to the NicU where we delivered. Before they took him they brought him in our room in the transporting device. We had a great group of people there that all prayed together for God's protection. That was pretty tough seeing him tied down and looking so helpless. Kevin was able to follow the ambulence to the hospital and continue to be with Mason.
As they evaluated him, They had two concerns the first being the water on the brain the second that his thumbs were facing in (basically not opening his hand all the way). They are saying that these two combinations could be a genetic issue and therefore he would be undergoing several tests to find out the cause of these conditions.
This morning in his surgery they placed a shunt in his head that is allowing the fluid to flow into his stomach. He has two incisions one in his head the other in his tummy. (like his mommy) The procedure was successful and Mason has been in recovery most of the day. The one down side is that he won't be playing football, boxing or wrestling. That is o.k b/c we expect the Benham boys to teach him how to play baseball ;).
I will be leaving the hospital tomorrow and finally be able to hold my baby and feed him. I can't wait! I feel like I don't know him yet and I can't wait to kiss him and tell him how proud I am of him. He such a fighter and I know he's going to continue to amaze all of us with his progress. At this point they still want to keep him for a couple of weeks to continue running tests to see what the cause of all of this is. We will also be able to find out some of the long term effects that he might have.
Thank you , Thank you for praying. Kevin and I cannot express how much every phone call, text message and visit has meant to us. You have helped us get through a very difficult time. We will continue to post information as we receive it. We love you all! God Bless Love, Kevin, Wendy and Mason :)

Check out my Mohawk

Mason sleepin like his daddy

Mason and Grandpa